On 11th-12th September 2012, The Uganda Open Development Partnership was formed after a stakeholders meeting that took place at Hotel Africana in Kampala. The partnership was a culmination of several months’ efforts by civil society organizations, to form a harmonised and coordinated partnership where information on a range of development matters can be open, available, accessible and useable for better human development outcomes. The partnership is a CSO-led public initiative that brings together government, civic society, academia, citizens and development partners working on open development initiatives, such as open data, open government, open budget, open aid, among others.

Open development is where organisations are using information technologies, among other information sharing channels, to provide and share information. Open development enhances transparency and accountability about resources that are available to be invested in development, how those resources are invested and what results they achieve. In the end, all the stakeholders involved in this information sharing chain; the data owners and users benefit from this mutually reinforcing ecosystem

The 1995 Constitution of the Republic of Uganda is a powerfully supportive instrument for access to information advocates. Article 41 (1) states that “Every citizen has a right of access to information in the possession of the State or any other organ or agency of the State except where the release of the information is likely to prejudice the security or sovereignty of the State or interfere with the right to the privacy of any other person”. This is augmented by the 2005 Freedom of Information Act whose purpose is “to promote an efficient, effective, transparent and accountable Government; give effect to article 41 of the Constitution by providing the right of access to information held by organs of the State, other than exempt records and information; protect persons disclosing evidence of contravention of the law, maladministration or corruption in Government bodies; promote transparency and accountability in all organs of the State by providing the public with timely, accessible and accurate information; and empower the public to effectively scrutinize and participate in Government decisions that affects them.